Veteran Canadian actor Donald Sutherland is urging voters to kick Stephen Harper out of office during the 2015 federal election, scheduled for October 19.

Speaking during the red carpet premiere of his film “Forsaken” at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on Wednesday, Sutherland suggested that voters should hand the keys to 24 Sussex Drive to NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair.

The 80-year old Sutherland is one of about 1.4 million Canadians who have been disenfranchised after the Conservatives revoked the voting rights of citizens who have lived outside Canada for longer than five years. Though he spends most of his time in the United States, Sutherland was born in Saint John, New Brunswick. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada, and recipient of the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award and a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame.

A CBC reporter asked Sutherland who he would vote for if he had the opportunity to vote during the 2015 federal election.

“Tom Mulcair. He is a man with the kind of heart I’d follow,” Sutherland responded, adding: “We’re destroying ourselves. We should be making piece. We should be offering hope and help. We should be taking in refugees. We’re people who make peace… Change the government.”

Section 3 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees all citizens the right to vote.

Two Canadian citizens now based in the United States brought a Charter challenge against the expat voting ban to the Superior Court in 2014. The court ruled the ban unconstitutional.

But the Harper government appealed the ruling and the Ontario Court of Appeal struck down the lower court’s ruling. Chief Justice George Strathy claimed that allowing expats to vote would “erode the social contract and undermine the legitimacy of the laws.”

The Governor-General gave me the Governor-General’s Award a while back. I am on your Walk of Fame in Toronto. My sense of humour is Canadian. But I can’t vote.

Did you know that? If you don’t live here all the time you can’t vote. Americans who live abroad can vote. They can vote because they’re citizens! Citizens! But I can’t. Because why? Because I’m not a citizen? Because what happens to Canada doesn’t matter to me? Ask any journalist that’s ever interviewed me what nationality I proudly proclaim to have. Ask them. They’ll tell you. I am a Canadian. But I’m an expatriate and the Harper government won’t let expatriates participate in Canadian elections.

On Tuesday, the actor joined more than 100 progressive celebrities, trade union leaders, environmentalists and aboriginal activists who endorsed the Leap Manifesto, a declaration calling for an immediate transition from fossil fuel dependency to a “Canada based on caring for the earth and one another.”

SPECIAL APPEAL: Enjoyed this story? Please consider empowering The Canadian Progressive by supporting this GoFundMe Fund-raising Initiative. Your generous support will help us to shine more light on Harper’s dictatorship-style assault on Canadian democracy. Thank you!

What about Wynne sneaking the Ontario death tax through in the summer. That is a joke of a Liberal Cash Grab again. Not to mention selling Hydro One even though the people of Ontario don’t want the sale. E health, Ornge, Failed Gas Plants to the tune of Billions and that is just Ontario Jus think how the NDP or Liberals can destroy the entire country. Wake up people

This Election is a very important. Fellow Canadians it is not only your right but it is your duty to vote. Please don’t take it lightly do your job and research the candidates. Make sure you are confident in who you choose to represent your Country. Look at their past, what they stand for and where they are going to direct our Country in the future. Let’s not be pushovers, let us be responsible adults who are going to take the initiative to move our Country in the best possible direction it can be. Please Canadians do your job.

Could it be that he is the former son in law of Tommy Douglas , father of our current Health Care System and first leader of the New Democratic Party, Order of Canada ,just a thought we all know how petty and vindictive Harper is ( I forgot sneaky ).

I am a Liberal but I welcome Donald Sutherland’s remarks. Too bad Harper disenfranchised over a millionaire ex-pats , their opinions are valuable as they have the advantage of a perspective created by distance. Sutherland’s remarks are pithy and well considered his support for the NDP obviously a deep one, Tommy Douglas was a great Canadian who did so much for this country. Good for him. Not feeling to see that successful Canadians still care.

Actually, Mr. Sutherland was born in Saint John, New Brunswick, not St. John’s Newfoundland. I would think knowing Candian geography at an least elementary level would be a prerequisite of writing on this site.

Donald Sutherland was indeed born in Saint John, New Brunswick. But an elementary knowledge of geography has got nothing to do with it. In the fast-paced business of political journalism, especially during an landmark election season, and in journalism in general, mistakes are common. Visit The New York Times, Globe and Mail or Toronto Star and you’ll likely encounter one factual correction or two. Still, your comment is appreciated. Mistake noted and corrected. Thanks.

Donald Sutherland was indeed born in Saint John, New Brunswick. But it’s strange that, as seems to be your conclusion, the mistake would altogether gut the “authors credibility”. The point is: In the fast-paced business of political journalism, especially during an landmark election season, and in journalism in general, mistakes are common. Visit The New York Times, Globe and Mail or Toronto Star and you’ll likely encounter one factual correction or two. Still, your comment is appreciated. Mistake noted and corrected. Thanks.

Lol…okay. I live in Saint John, NB. The name ‘Saint’ is NEVER abbreviated as it correctly is with the ST. John’s Newfoundland. Trust me. Google it. (however I think we are now straying from the main top of this thread.)

Sutherland is speaking as one of the 1.4 million Canadians disenfranchised by the dictatorship-style expat vote rule. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees all citizens the right to vote. And when you consider the fact that, in some ridings, the Conservatives won with a few dozen votes in 2011, you can’t help feeling that Harper is stealing this election already. Every person who has a voice should speak out.

“Actor” is just a career choice. It doesn’t mean that you take your brain out and therefore have no cogent thoughts anymore. An actor can keep up with politics and global issues just as well as a teacher can or a secretary, or mechanic or anybody else. It is narrow minded to dismiss people based on their profession.

how on earth can you believe what you think about actors values. actors are as valiant as any other career person. in this whole world there are good or evil people. however, unless one personally knows a person, one has no right to make such assumptions as you make.